Presentation Skills (47)
Having been in the Toastmasters Communication & Leadership Program for over 21 years, Rae is passionate about sharing information to help others develop their skills.
This section hosts articles related to public speaking, writing artilces/webcopy & presentation skill development.
Enjoy the articles and feel free to comment. Keep the discussion going.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
There are at least two types of speaking to give consideration: prepared speaking & impromptu.
While creating a ‘prepared’ speech, you have to keep in mind the audience that you will be speaking to. What will their level of comprehension be? While the simple formula of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Sasquatch) might be appropriate in many situations, it wouldn’t be if you were speaking to an audience of educated people. Educated in the sense that they are knowledgeable about your topic. They, would likely be offended.
As originally answered on Quora.com...
Disclaimer: I have Aspergers and ADHD.
I approached a girl at a party last night. I initiated conversation with her, but there were frequent awkward pauses. You see whenever she responded to my questions; my mind would go blank, I would reply “okay”. Also, I was drunk as well. What is wrong with me?
~~~
Addressing your last question first “What is wrong with me?” Short answer … ‘nothing is wrong with you!” Your brain is just wired a little different than others. That doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong. However, it does present challenges that others don’t face in life.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
The short and quick answer to this question in my mind is that you find the ideal speed for speaking in public by trial and error.
As North Americans, it is often said that we speak at a rate of between 125 and 175 words per minute. The challenge is that we don’t know how fast our audience is capable of not only hearing us, but understanding us.
Speak too slow and the audience gets bored and restless. Speak too fast and you start to lose audience members that can’t keep up. They get frustrated and turn you out.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
This question might be better asked as can visualization help us to improve our public speaking skills?
Visualization is a technique often used by high-performance coaches for training athletes and other individuals who are actively trying to gain a competitive edge.
There is a technique behind visualizing. It is not likely to be successful if one focuses on negative aspects of their performance. Examples: focusing on their fear, focusing on the possibility of failure, not having a clear vision of the objective.
I was listening to a high-performance coach who was a guest on a podcast focusing on public speaking. He had worked with Michael Phelps in preparation for the Olympics. He related that whereas regular competitors at that level of competition would be in the water in the morning and the evening i.e. two practices every day. Phelps on the other hand, would only have one swimming practice in the morning. For the second session, instead of being in the pool swimming, he would focus on the videos of his practice. He would focus on every single stroke and visualize on how he could improve his performance, stroke by stroke. That’s quite a bit of devotion.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
Thanks for an interesting question. I have always thought of communication in terms of being interpersonal or non-interpersonal i.e. to everybody but nobody specific, not in terms of personal or impersonal.
BusinessDictionary.com defines impersonal communication as follows:
A type of communicationor interaction that is based specifically on socialroles, such as communication between asales representativeand apotential customer. The manner of communication is informal andsuperficial,coveringtopicsnecessary to instigate asaleor similar transaction.
I'm too afraid to speak in front of the class or in public? Should I discuss my problem with the teacher?
Written by Rae StonehouseI’m a freshman in college. I have problems speaking in class/public. Maybe I’m too Shy. My heart beats fast I start blushing and can feel the heat. I’m afraid to tell anyone because they think I'm dumb. My family always make fun of me because of this and tells me that I should be like my siblings.
As originally answered on Quora.com...
I believe you have an excellent response to your question from Lovelyn Bettison and I’m struggling to add to her answer.
No, you are definitely not alone in your shyness. The latest statistics from the Shyness Institute say that more than 50% of Americans indicated in a poll that they experience shyness in certain social situations.
Shyness and fear of public speaking, while related, are two different scenarios. To resolve either of them at a basic level, both require specific skill development, which in turn increases self-confidence and subsequently decreases fear. You can be skilled at public speaking, yet still be shy in social situations. I know this is true for me.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
Thanks for an interesting question.
According to BusinessDictionary.com informal communication is a casual form of information sharing typically used in personal conversations with friends or family members. Within a business environment, informal communication is sometimes called the grapevine and might be observed occurring in conversations, electronic mails, text messages and phone calls between socializing employees.
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
According to Businesstopia, alinearmodel, communication is considered one way process where sender is the only one who sends message and receiver doesn't give feedback or response. The message signal is encoded and transmitted through channel in presence of noise.
I’m not sure about the latter portion of that definition but I’ve always known it as one-way communication.
Examples are as follows:
I gave a humorous public speech and I said “men photoshop biceps & women photoshop breasts”. After the speech I realized how bad my thoughts are. I felt I should have avoided talking about Breasts. Like this what topics should I never talk about or rules of public speaking (never hurt any 1 , etc.)
As originally answered on Quora.com
I’m curious to know if what you describe as your bad thoughts were initiated by second-guessing yourself or by feedback from your audience? Also, is it actually true that men photoshop biceps & women photoshop breasts? If it is a fact, then how can it be bad to talk about it?
As originally posted on Quora.com ...
The answer to this question likely is determined by how you are using the word ‘assertive’. If you are using it as a generic phrase to describe becoming a better speaker, then there’s likely lots of articles on the subject here on Quora.
Now if you are actually using the word assertive in its true sense, there may not be so many articles. I haven’t checked, but in studying the craft of public speaking over the years I really haven’t heard it asked before if at all.
More...
How can I be a sharp communicator?
Written by Rae StonehouseMy mind thinks really quickly but my mouth seems to be really slow at choosing words to say and speaking. It's really affecting my interviews as people think I'm slow and dunce. Is their a way to at least give the impression of being a quick and sharp communicator?
As originally answered on Quora.com ...
The best way to give the impression that you are quick and a sharp communicator is to actually become one.
Before I get started though, I want to comment on your desire to be ‘quick.’ There is no rule in life or communication saying that you have to be quick thinking. Many great leaders and communicators give thought before they answer. They aren’t necessarily slow thinking, its just that it is important to them to give a response that is of value. There is an old saying that goes “its better to keep your mouth shut and let them to think you stupid, then it is to open it and prove the point.” Being quick thinking and quick speaking can be appropriate at times and inappropriate at others.
Being quick thinking can be a symptom of nervousness. When we are under stress, for whatever cause, our body goes into a flight/fight response. It is preparing our body to take action. Our brain and our mind are equally as affected. A job interview scenario can evoke the same response. Our thinking speeds up, yet our mouth can’t match its speed. Nor should it.
It is an age old question … are you in charge of your mind or is your mind in charge of you? I think the answer is both. The trick is in learning different methods to control your mind. Currently, your mind is in charge of you. In responding to questions as experienced in a job interview, your mind is in control of you and it doesn’t appear to be working for you.
As originally posted on Quora.com ...
My short answer is that being skilled in public speaking is the difference between a professional that has lots of ideas, that nobody gets to hear about and a professional that becomes a thought leader who is sought after to hear what they have to say.
A big part of being a professional is being able to share your ideas with others and persuade them to take action, based on your suggestions. It doesn’t matter what your profession is, they share common characteristics. One of the basic tenets of being a professional is giving back to the profession by adding to its body of knowledge or sharing one’s experience with others.
As originally answered on Quora.com
There are at least two elements to this question: how can I write a speech & how can I write a speech about health and medicine?
As for advice on how to write a speech, I would expect there to be lots of answers to that here on Quora if you search for it, or Google the question for that matter.
As for how to write a speech on health & medicine, several factors come to play:
What are some interesting topics for speech that contain these four aspects?
Written by Rae StonehouseThe speech should be entertaining, informative, persuasive, and inspiring. I don’t know how to combine them. do you have any topic that contain those four aspects?
As originally posted on Quora.com ...
I’m going to take a different approach to my answer than others have taken. I don’t believe that you need suggestions from anyone for specific topics. The answer is already within you.
Think about who or whatever has inspired you personally throughout your life. What did you find interesting about them? What inspired you about them? Did you do any further research on them such as checking out Google? Was there anything special about what they have said or done that resonated with you? Did you talk to anyone else about this particular individual or subject?
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